The Makah need to hunt the gray whale like Steve Pool needs to color his fro. It isn’t necessary to the survival of either, but it makes things seem more colorful. Located on the northwestern tip of the state, the Makah are seeking a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which would allow them to hunt up to 20 gray whales over the next four years. Last September, several members of the Makah......

We’ve been through this before. With the ever-present smile still stretched across her face, our favorite waitress at Hing Loon asked, “Are you sure you can eat the organs?” Well, c’mon, that’s why we ordered the “Lo Mein with Assorted Beef Organs” in the first place. We knew we wanted noodles (ignoring the zillions of specials handwritten on paper and taped to the walls), but even more we wanted those organs that come scattered......

Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

We're in the International District, walking down the street, past the whole roasted ducks displayed in windows, sniffing fried Chinese food and fragrant pho broth, searching for the one thing that seems not to exist in the ID--coffee. We see the bright neon sign of Gossip Espresso and Tea and cross the street. A hand-written sign on the door says, "Closing at 6pm today." It's 5:55 and we sprint up to the counter and......

The old cliché is that if you eat Chinese food, you’ll be hungry again one hour later. We’re not sure of that, but in reviewing restaurants, we surely want to know what’s enduring one hour, one day, even one week later. Delicious when dining, perhaps, but ultimately fantastic… or forgettable? We’ve been bemoaning the lack of quality Chinese food in Seattle. Aside from a few Szechuan spots, very little is enduring. Dim sum is dull,......

The ability to endure month after month of days like today is an unappreciated phenomenon unique to this corner of America. Elsewhere winter storms may be harsher in the traditional frozen pipes/paralyzed infrastructure sense, but the psychological toll of Steve Pool’s constant grey "with a chance of light rain" is just grueling. Long-time Seattle residents are not unlike seasoned veterans of a lifelong Chinese Water Torture and Seattlest appreciates the local grit required to......

It's only playing for one week, so be sure to check out Nanking, a moving documentary about the 1937 Japanese invasion of the titular Chinese town. The film begins its theatrical run in Seattle this Friday, February 1st. The story is told through emotional interviews with Chinese survivors, archival footage, and chilling testimonies by Japanese soldiers, interwoven with readings of Westerners’ letters and diaries as performed by Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, Jurgen Prochnow, and......

“Wow. Wii!” That’s what we said last time we walked into Pochi Tea Station in the University District. They always had a pile of games (the low-tech Jenga being our favorite), but now there was Wii to go along with the noise of the music videos and the crowd of mostly young Asian UWers. Pochi’s been a popular hangout with students, who sample from the menu of crepes, toast, fried tofu, and other snacks. But......

Recently, we've been spending a lot of time talking about films not yet (if ever) released, but now it's time to turn our focus back to movies actually playing in theaters. Nanking, a moving documentary about the 1937 Japanese invasion of the titular Chinese town, won an editing award at last year's Sundance and also played SIFF 2007. Now the film begins its theatrical run in Seattle this Friday, February 1st. The story is......

M. Coy Books on Pine is closing, and, because we spent hours and hours there as a teenager without buying anything, we're feeling a bit jerk-ish for not having patronized the place more in adulthood. Founder Michael Coy (yeah, he founded Bailey/Coy, too) sure knows how to make us feel like a tool. He tells the P-I: "We're going to miss interaction with our customers, but we will not miss waking up in the middle......

Dammit, neither were we. For opening day, Mr. Seattlest got up in the wee hours and was in lot 2 about 30 minutes before the lift opened, ending up about 20th in line. The guys waiting for first chair up front were drinking PBR tall boys and said (and acted like) they'd been there since about 7am. With a base of about 51", it was an excellent start. Snow was a bit heavy, and chair......

Look up the definition of “hot-to-trot” and you’ll find two sets of meanings: (1) willing and eager and (2) sexually exciting. To us, hot pot is both. All the recent hot pot talk on food message boards and in the local and national newspapers tempted us to do a turkey trot to Seven Stars Pepper (at 12th and Jackson, our favorite food corner in Seattle) on Thanksgiving Day – thankful to the Chinese for having......

Please, oh please bring the Shaolin: Temple of Zen exhibition to Seattle. From the Aperture Foundation:For the first time in history, the notoriously guarded warrior monks of the fifteen-hundred-year-old Shaolin Temple—a Chinese Buddhist sect dedicated to preserving a form of kung fu known as the "vehicle of Zen"—have allowed their secretive society to be documented. With the blessing of the main abbot, Justin Guariglia earned the trust and full collaboration of the Shaolin monks to......

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs. This is our second go round with the city of St. Louis, which is a......

What better time to talk about beer and food than with the holidays coming up? We enjoy wine with a good meal just as much as everyone else, but we hate the perception that beer should not be paired with anything except pizza. Unless you are still drinking that macro crap, you can enjoy beer with a wide variety of food. This Seattlest is currently reading "The Brewmaster's Table", written by Garrett Oliver, the......

Seattlest feels dirty (not in a good way) after reading the Oxford American's article on indie rock and Seattle. Bill Wasik's piece about indie rock and the blogs and radio stations who love them revolves around Seattle and KEXP. He frames us as the first city of indie rock, which, first of all, doesn't seem right. We have a decent amount of indie-type bands and some clubs and Capitol Hill, but... do you think we're......

Sometimes when you start going off about how *hysterically funny* someone is, people take it as a dare not to laugh. But Lauren Weedman cracks us up, and we don't care who knows it. Tonight she's reading from her new book, A Woman Trapped in a Woman's Body (Tales from a Life of Cringe). It's a free reading, 7pm at Neumos, 21 and over only. If you want to prep beforehand, here's a Seattle Times......

We normally run from a restaurant that’s advertised as Chinese and American. Common sense, but it also dates back to a day in New Hampshire when we walked into “Judy’s (or whatever her name was) Chinese Restaurant” and were given dinner rolls and butter along with our menus. Shi’An Restaurant (12534 Lake City Way NE) is easy to run from. Its peeling-away paper sign barely covers the shingle of the former Baker’s restaurant. The inside......

Study up on Jesus. That was the topic for last night's hardest round at Seattlest Trivia. Average score/ 5.9 out of 10. Can you do better? 1) In 1966, the Ku Klux Klan burned Beatles records after who said the group was “more popular than Jesus now”? 2) The Depeche Mode song “Personal Jesus” was inspired by the autobiography Elvis and Me, written by whom? 3) The Jesus and Mary Chain’s song “Just Like Honey”......

Few foods are more fun – or more perfect – than xiao long bao. Originating in Shanghai, xiao long bao translates to “little basket bun,” but they are more commonly known as soup dumplings. Steamed in bamboo baskets which hold six to eight dumplings, the doughy wrappers serve as pouches for a fantastic filling of meat and meaty broth. Eat them hot, but not too hot, dipped in black vinegar with thin slivers of ginger.......

Back in June we posted about the bee colony collapse thingamajig, the upshot of which was that no one knew what the hell was killing 23% of the commercial honey bee force dead. (50% to 90% of the U.S. commercial bee population was affected.) Today (via MSNBC) the journal Science is reporting (though it doesn't look like it's up on the site yet) that a major factor could be: Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, or IAPV......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

Are you there Seattle art world? It's us, Seattlest. We're trying our best to talk up your First Thursday openings, but it looks like you've crapped out on us this month. We understand: you're on vacation or something, it's kinda hot out, the BLUE ANGELS are in the sky ... We've got posts to post, however, and damned if we won't find something to recommend from your namby-pamby Art Walk offerings. Here's what we're going......

Lisa See is the author of the megabestselling novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a book that received so many good reviews that we decided not to read it out of pique. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a historical novel based on the true story of women in rural China who created and used a secret writing system to communicate with each other. Her new novel, Peony in Love, is about a......

Now that the opening gala has kicked off SIFF all proper-like, it's time to join the orgy of cinema for the next 25 days. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $10/$8 (and matinees $7/$5), except for gala screenings, which are $25/$23, and the closing night film event, which is $40/$35. If you really want to be prepared for this year's fest, check out Microsoft's Live Search Maps SIFF collection. Unlike most......

#1 Pick in the 2007 NBA Draft: Blazers! #2 Pick in the 2007 NBA Draft: Sonics! Holy poosticks! This couldn't have worked out any better. The Blazers will pick Greg Oden, that's a no-brainer, leaving the Sonics with no choice but to take Durant (unless, of course, they ruin everything by taking that Chinese guy). Durant's a much more dynamic player than Oden--if there were a guy who could save the franchise, it's him. Sonics......

The overnight blogs are abuzz: Tenet (slamdunking Iraq) and Goldy (recycling poisoned pet food). Both merit close attention, but Goldy (David Goldstein) is right here in Seattle, and he's making international news. Let's not forget that his blog, HorsesAss.org, was the first to reveal Michael Brown's bogus credentials to run FEMA. This time, it's another fuckup, but with truly ominous potential: China's melamine-laced pet food was recycled as feed for domestic pork, and our......

Cirque Dreams @ The Moore Theatre Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun 2pm // Ticketmaster $29-$49 (plus fees) Who doesn't love a circus? Maybe dead people. They might not like the hustle and bustle. The guy next to us was in his forties, in a suit, and kept pointing out things to his date, exclaiming, "Oh, no way!" Most of the rest of the audience was pre-teen or just-teen. We developed a strange craving for......

After three days in Morocco, Seattlest has developed an addiction to Mint Tea. We always thought we liked mint tea--as a child pressured by our caffeine-phobic mother, it was often the only choice--but we had no idea of what other mint teas awaited us in the world. The tea we had upon our arrival in Marrakech was a revelation. Sweet and strongly flavored with fresh spearmint with just the slightest hint of something else lingering......

Kurt Vonnegut, up there with Twain and Melville and Kesey as the most original American novelists ever in the history of writing stuff, died tonight. He was 84. He'd been in the hospital since a fall a couple of weeks ago. Attention kids: this is what happens if you chain-smoke for 73 years. Based on our cursory search of local newspaper archives, Vonnegut's last local appearance would seem to be at Eastern Washington University's GET......